Ryoma Sakamoto and Shintaro Nagaoka Assassinated Here

(the site of the Omiya store)

By Luke Raymond Swiderski, November 5, 2017

1. Ryoma Sakamoto and Shintaro Nagaoka Assassinated Here Marker

Inscription. This is where the shop of the soy sauce dealer Omiya once stood, the site of the assassination on November 15th, 1867 of Ryoma Sakamoto (1835-1867), among the greatest contributors to the Meiji Restoration, with his sworn friend Shintaro Nagaoka (1838-1867), both from the Tosa domain, present day Kochi Prefecture. Sakamoto was head of the Kaientai organization, while Shintaro was leader of the militaristic Rikuentai. Kaientai, a trading firm with Western dealers founded in Nagasaki by Sakamoto, was a kind of private sea force.

On the evening of November 15th, Nagaoka visited his friend Sakamoto at the Omiya soy sauce shop where he was boarding. Absorbed in discussion on the future course of Japanese politics after the Return of Political Power to the Emperor (Taiseihokan), the young patriotic royalists were suddenly assaulted by an armed group who named themselves "Totsugawa Warriors".

Sakamoto, then 33, was killed on the spot, while Nagaoka, 30, died two days later.

It was a turbulent era of transition in which the more than 260-year-long feudalistic Tokugawa Shogunate was terminated, putting an end to the days of swordsmen. The new Meiji days (1868-1912) were to begin.

Both Sakamoto and Nagaoka are buried at the present Kyoto Ryozen-Gokoku-jinja (shrine).

(Japanese, Korean, and Chinese not transcribed.)

By Luke Raymond Swiderski, November 5, 2017

2. Ryoma Sakamoto and Shintaro Nagaoka Assassinated Here Marker

Erected by Kyoto City.

Location. 35° 0.456′ N, 135° 45.57′ E. Marker is in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, in Nakagyo-Ku. Marker is on Kawaramachi-dori, on the left when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Kawaramachidori Takoyakushi Sagaru, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 604-8027, Japan.

Also see . . . 1. Sakamoto Ryōma (Wikipedia). "Sakamoto Ryōma (坂本 龍馬, January 3, 1836 – December 10, 1867) was a Japanese prominent figure in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate in bakumatsu Japan." (Submitted on February 4, 2018.)

2. Sakamoto Ryoma & His Environs (The Kyoto Project). "Do you know the story of the young rebel samurai who died a hero, ambushed at an inn in Kyoto?
Of the many samurai who devoted themselves to helping our country before Japan was Westernized, there was one famous national samurai hero, named Sakamoto Ryoma. Most Japanese people know his name well, and how he made a great contribution to Japanís rapid modernization." (Submitted on February 4, 2018.)

Credits. This page was last revised on February 5, 2018. This page originally submitted on February 3, 2018, by Luke Raymond Swiderski of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 58 times since then. Last updated on February 4, 2018, by Luke Raymond Swiderski of Richmond, Virginia. Photos:1, 2. submitted on February 3, 2018, by Luke Raymond Swiderski of Richmond, Virginia. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.